There's an idiosyncrasy among us humans that both amuses and annoys me. I usually refer it it as "it's okay if my party does it" because the most egregious examples I see are among political partisans. Don't vote for Bob because he did the same thing you excuse Bill doing. But it's not just politics.
I caught myself doing it the other day. In my apartment complex, there are residents with non-working vehicles. Said residents do nothing to fix or remove the vehicles, thus taking up parking spots better used by those of us with working vehicles. I'm not talking broken down for a day or even a week, I'm talking months. I could plant a crop on the van out there. Yet even as I grumble and gripe, I make excuses for one of those residents. Because I like him. I don't like or know the others.
I've been told anyone on government benefits is morally repulsive and then given a pass when I mention my own dependence on SSDI. I was in a store yesterday and realized that, if I hadn't been standing there to see the cashier's efforts to fix the register (it was having a nervous breakdown over a check), I'd be grumbling like all the people in line behind me.
We all do it, especially if we actively dislike the person in question. I had a million examples in mind but, of course, most of them jumped out of my head as soon as I started typing. I guess it's just human nature. We have more compassion for those we know and/or like.
Maybe it's a defense mechanism. We simply are not capable of loving some stranger across the world as strongly as we do our friends and family. Either way, it's been on my mind and I blogged about it because that's what I do.
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